The present invention generally relates to semiconductor processing, and more specifically, to fabrication methods and resulting structures for crossbar reinforced semiconductor fins having reduce wiggling.
Typical semiconductor devices are formed using active regions of a wafer. The active regions are defined by isolation regions used to separate and electrically isolate adjacent semiconductor devices. For example, in an integrated circuit (IC) having a plurality of metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs), each MOSFET has a source and a drain that are formed in an active region of a semiconductor layer by implanting n-type or p-type impurities in the layer of semiconductor material. Disposed between the source and the drain is a channel (or body) region. Disposed above the body region is a gate electrode. The gate electrode and the body are spaced apart by a gate dielectric layer. The channel region connects the source and the drain. Electrical current is induced to flow through the channel region from the source to the drain by a voltage applied at the gate electrode.
So-called “nonplanar” MOSFETs have been developed as a means to reduce the footprint of planar MOSFET architectures by providing certain transistor elements (e.g., channel, source, drain, gate, etc.) as substantially nonplanar three-dimensional (3D) structures. Many nonplanar MOSFET architectures form one or more portions of the transistor (e.g., channel, source, drain, gate, etc.) as a fin-shaped structure. In order to decrease the center-to-center distance (or pitch) between a given feature (e.g., gate) of adjacent transistors and increase device density on the wafer, the aspect ratios of these fin-shaped structures are often high. In other words, each fin-shaped structure in a given nonplanar MOSFET is much taller than it is wide